Someday, Prince will come . . .
A gratuitous title, but any more so than the capers the Purple One has been getting up to lately? Alastair Mabbott does his best to get round the problem of not having that squiggly little symbol on his word processor.
Okay. Scot-laand. are you ready for the triumphant return of Prince??? Yeah. I imagine you probably are. The current tour is part two of the scrumptious. dare I say kaleidoscopic. show that descended on Celtic Park last year. All-singing, all-dancing. partially- rapped and totally Prince. it was quite a blast. Leaving aside the show’s distracting concept - little choreographed vignettes make up a ‘rock soap opera' about Prince‘s lust for a 16-year-old virgin Egyptian princess — the band were as well-drilled a unit in l992 as had ever been seen on a Scottish stage, and by now they'll be damn near unstoppable.
Be afraid, be very afraid . . . Prince invite: you into his parlor:
Prince had already negotiated a bumper contract be unable to prevent himself from dashing into the Just how much capficlous behaviout with the company. which is alleged to be worth 3100 i studio the moment he gets a good idea for a song. can one industry take? million and gives him his own vice-president‘s ‘ Sources who know him well suggest that he‘s spotted office. Well, when the competition is as tough and f something in his new contract he's not happy with attention-grabbing as Michael Jackson and Madonna. ‘ and wants to renegotiate and is playing ‘hardball’ The question is. how much Princer behaviour can you have to make grand gestures. don‘t you? And with the company t0 get his 0W" WGY- people take — and this is the floating voter we're now he was withdrawing his labour? Not quite: he talking about here, not the hard-core dyed-peach-in- made it clear that future releases would be drawn . . . the_woo| {an _ before they just can‘t be arsed any from his archives of 500 unreleased tracks while The thought 0' bemg l8" behmd and more? or. to put it another way. just how much Pn'nce moved into ‘alternative media‘ like theatre. i out-Of-LOIICI'I Will pfOpGl him back into capricious behaviour can one industry take? nightclubs. films and interactive media. t the studio before long For when a household name releases singles the (Interestingly. TOdd RUhdgTCh. one Of Prince's early
radio can't play. quits recording after signing one of heroes is now releasing an interactive CD-ROM. a
the most potentially lucrative contracts in history and move which the Purple One would most likely be But the public's going to take it as another Michael
changes his name to an unpronouncable squiggle aware of - coincidence?) Jackson ‘King Of Pop‘ thing. aren’t they? After all. which can only be typed with the correct software ' And what of it? Thanks to the tracks he’s donated to l the only thing that’s saved him from being deposited from Warner Bros (he will apparently tell all at the other artists. we know that the stuff Prince throws in the same ‘wacko’ dumper as Jacko is that Prince. end of this tour), you can only assume that; a) he‘s away is better than the material a lot of people make } hey. has sex! — really! — with woman! — and sings dead serious, having got religion or perhaps ' their names on. If it‘s timeless, why should it matter 3 about it aftem'ards.’ Even after the big announcement something even worse; b) his wicked sense of ; Whether it's spanking new or five years old? But about his new name and detailed pronunciation hints humour is alive, well and expressing itself in Pn'nce, like Jackson, has already shown himselfto be : _ with audience participation? _ only dedicated increasingly deviant ways; or c) that he's so pissed ' threatened enough by faihiOh t0 thC'Ude ‘1 hethCf rap acolytes would stop calling him ‘Prince‘. And what } off about the sales figures of his last album that he'll element in his ShOWS (8fter diSSihg rappers in Years then? A superstar tantrum. so that he'll reveal i do anything to get attention. past) and not going out of his way to ditch himselfto be the flake we always suspected? Or will i
C) has a lot going for it. The announcement that he misogyhtstlc trappings- It's my guess that the thought the joke be on all of us: press. music industry. fans. ' was giving up studio recording came only a week of being left behind and out oftouch will propel him the lot? ‘My Name ls Prince‘, he‘s been rapping to after Prince met with Warners chairman Mo Ostin back into the StUdiO before long. PrinCe mUSt knOW audiences every night for the past year. Is it that and company president Lenny Waronker to let them that himself- Simple? know how dissatisfied he was with Loves-ymbors (or Neither are staff at Warners taking the retirement whatever it‘s called) performance, Two million units threats very seriously. reportedly ‘laughing‘ about it. Prince plays Meadowbank Stadium. Edinburgh on shifted in the US is not enough for the insatiable one, Most think that a prolific songwriter like Prince will Thurs 29.
ON FOLLOWING PAGES: BARENAKEO LADIES 0 ONE DOVE O POOH STICKS
The Lis'tToLEJuty‘rém :17